Estimation of Railway Renewal Period Due to Rail Wear in Small-Radius Curves: A Data and Mechanics Integrated Approach

A small-radius curve is one of the weaker areas of a railway line, bearing a large amount of lateral rail-wheel interactions that often cause the rail to wear out relatively quickly past wear threshold levels. Therefore, providing a reasonable estimate for the renewal period due to rail wear in small-radius curves can not only improve the safety of railway operations but also substantially reduce maintenance cost. In light of this, this paper presents the development of a data and mechanics integrated approach (DMIA) to analyze three different types of rail wear measurements recorded from 2017 to 2018. First, the Archard wear model (a mechanics-based model) is adopted to calculate the wear growth chart under different radii. Second, based on the growth chart, the rail lifetime is estimated in million gross tonnage (MGT) of over-threshold rail wear readings, immediately as the rails reach the wear threshold. Third, considering the influence of different curve radii and the inner or outer rails on rail wear, an accelerated failure time (AFT) model (a data-driven model) is used to analyze the heterogeneity of the corrected measurement data. A survival probability is obtained with increasing gross tonnage for different curve radii. Finally, the expected MGT is calculated for rail wear-based renewal for curves with different radii, and the obtained values are compared with the corresponding values in the existing standard.

• Record URL:
  https://annualmeeting.mytrb.org/OnlineProgram/Details/15478
• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AR060 Standing Committee on Rail Transit Infrastructure Design and Maintenance.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  ,    
• Authors:
  • Gao, Tianci
  • Li, Zihan
  • Wang, Qihang
  • Yang, Kanghua
  • Yang, Cuiping
  • Li, Chenzhong
  • Wang, Ping
  • He, Qing
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 100th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2021-1-5 to 2021-1-29
• Date: 2021

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 20p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Curves (Geometry); Data analysis; Data models; Estimating; Failure; Mathematical models; Railroad rails; Railroads; Wear
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Maintenance and Preservation; Railroads;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01763572
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: TRBAM-21-00302
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Feb 4 2021 10:54AM